Add single/multi select option from front end

When completing a form or entering directly into a grid view, it would be nice to allow the addition of new options without having to edit the field. So the user would be typing in the form and it either shows the existing option(s) matching what they’ve typed, or it allows them to add a new option.

Currently, one must edit the field to add a new option.

Screen Shot 2022-07-01 at 10.50.58 AM

1 Like

Hello @mlee! Sorry for the delay with the response. It’s already possible in Baserow to add a new option in single/multi select in a Grid view without editing a field, take a look at the screenshot below :point_down:

We can also allow adding a new option to the single/multi select from the Form view type, but not when a user is completing a form, so only authorized users can do some modifications to the tables. Will that fit your needs?

hey @olgatrykush - so i have virtual assistants that complete forms in order to capture data. if there’s ever a new data point for a drop down menu, then they’re unable to proceed with entering it.

currently, the workaround is to select ‘Other’ and then complete a text field with the data that is not available in the drop down. then i have to go and clean it up afterwards.

i was looking for some way to add a new option when a user is completing a form.

Hey @mlee, thanks for the explanation! I’m going to discuss your use case, but I don’t feel we will allow adding new options while completing the form. Maybe we will come up with some workarounds. Anyway, I’ll update you later on this.

Hello @mlee! I’ve double-checked this question with the team, and we indeed don’t plan to allow adding new options while completing a form.

hi @olgatrykush thank you for asking.

From my understanding the key problem here is at the moment we see the Form view as a way for you to let people who aren’t in your Baserow workspace insert rows into a table. And so if you were able to use the form to change/add options this could introduce security problems for other users of the form view, for example:

I want to make a form where a member of the public is forced to select between the options:

  1. Country A
  2. Country B

But if the form view let you add options then a member of the public could then add Country C as an option and possibly introduce bad data into your database.

I’m guessing you don’t want to give your virtual assistants full access to your workspace so they can create their own options?

One potential solution I see to this in the future is when we add role based access control you should then be able to create a single table which your virtual assistants can add new rows to and edit the field options for, but restrict them from accessing all other tables in your database. Would that be a solution for you?

I came to this forum for just this request - enabling the ability for viewers / users of the Form view to dynamically add options to the multi-select would be hugely helpful when beginning to generate new data based on user feedback. The Grid view option of “Add new” is exactly what I would love to see in the actual Form view (publicly shared).

Their access would be limited to a form, so I don’t have any concerns about what they add. But controlling should via access controls would suffice.

Hello @jimmy and @mlee! We heard you. Let us come back to this question after we release the role-based access control (in 2 months or so) :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like